El Valle, Panama.
A brief History
El Valle is a lovely mountain town just two hours from Panama City. The drive is mostly on the Pan-American highway (expressway) with the last half hour driving on a two lane, rather windy and steep country road that is in good shape. El Valle de Anton, known simply as El Valle is nestled in the second largest volcano crater in the world - a five by three mile crater created when a volcano blew its top off five million years ago. A lovely steep valley surrounded by jagged peaks and rich volcanic soil that gives way to flowers and verdant forest is the result. El Valle also boasts a near perfect year-round spring climate.
NOTE: Must Click play below for video clip - 41 seconds
John`s Recollections
This was a delightful full day trip. We fortunately had a rental vehicle and were able to explore the valley floor and see many nice homes scattered about. Also several smaller lodgings were encountered and all were quite nice. The climate was beautiful and 10-15F degrees cooler than Panama city and one did not mind walking in the open air market stalls in the downtown area. Personnally this market seemed to provide the value and variety that we were looking for. If you do go it would be best to find out when the market is open and plan your trip accordingly. In the town you notice the surrounding hills, with quite jagged peaks. On the way out, take your time and as you rise in height make sure to stop and view back to what is really noticable, a volcano basin in the valley surrounded by lush mountains.
The village is nestled in the caldera of the second largest inhabited volcano in the world. El Valle, lying 600 meters above sea level, owns an all-season mild springtime climate. Year-round average high temperature is 28° C, and the average nighttime minimum is 20° C, with little variation between summer and winter.
El Valle, Panama - Our Trip Comments
The drive from the expressway is rather enjoyable. One should take it slow and enjoy the excellent scenery on the way up. The road has many curves but it is quite driveable especially if you take your time.
The town of El Valle is quite clean compared to most towns in Panama and while small in population it does have some exciting and interesting points to see.
Our walk thru the rainforest to a cascading waterfall brought one in touch with Panama`s natural setting.
A visit to the medicinal hot tubs , is supposedly the cure for arthritic conditions.
The small zoo and gardens provides a showcase for Panama`s bird polulation and plant life. The road to the zoo and gardens however was not in the best condition.
Click above underliined links for El Valle
video clips
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